How we check bikes, make money and rank

Where the rules come from

Every rule is read on the state or territory government’s own page, or in its legislation, and quoted on the state rule pages with the date we read it. We don’t use retailer blogs, news stories or motoring clubs as a source for a rule; they are often out of date, and in 2026 several were. When a page shows its own “last updated” date we keep that too, and we re-read every page at least monthly and whenever a state announces a change.

How the checker decides

Each state gets one of four verdicts:

• Legal: the bike fits a class the state’s page describes, and no change with a date ends it.
• Legal for now: it fits today, but a dated change ends it, either already law (Queensland’s 28 February 2027 transition) or announced (NSW’s planned 1 March 2029 cap). We show the date.
• Check: the answer depends on something the specs can’t settle (certification you can’t confirm, a 200 W class whose throttle rules the state doesn’t state), or two government sources disagree. We say which.
• Not legal: the bike breaks a limit the state states. We name the first limit it breaks.

The inputs are the motor’s rated (continuous) power, not the peak figure many listings lead with; whether a throttle can move the bike above 6 km/h; the speed at which pedal assistance stops; EN 15194 certification; and any mode that lifts the limits. For the bikes we list, each of those comes from the seller’s own product page. We record EN 15194 as confirmed only when that page names the standard for that bike; otherwise the checker treats it as “not sure”, which costs a bike its pass in WA and the NT.

Verdicts are general information about published rules. They aren’t legal advice, and police and courts decide individual cases.

Which bikes we list

We compare only the 22 e-bikes listed here, not the whole market. Other products may be available that suit you better. The 22 are from 15 brands sold in Australia (NCM, Lekker, Fatfish, Smartmotion, VelectriX, Aventon, Ampd Bros, Giant, Trek, Specialized, Avanti, Reid, Cube, Tern, Benno), picked to cover each kind of bike and price band, with their price and specs read on the seller’s product page. No public source ranks e-bike sales by model, so we don’t call any of them a best seller. We add a bike when we can verify its rated power, throttle and price, whether or not its seller pays us.

How the matcher ranks

The matcher drops bikes that are illegal in your state, over your budget or the wrong type for what you carry, then ranks the rest. A bike that is legal with no end date ranks above one that is legal only for now, which ranks above a “check”. Within that, it prefers bikes whose maker’s lowest range claim covers your round trip, whose published load limit covers you and your load, and whose size chart fits your height. Price breaks ties.

Two of its thresholds are our own rules of thumb, built from the bikes we list rather than from any outside figure. Range: most makers publish only an “up to” figure, a best case. Only 3 of the bikes we list come with a worst case as well, and their batteries divided by those worst cases give a median of 12.5 Wh per km, about double the 5.8 Wh per km that best cases imply across all 20. We use the worst-case figure to work out a bad-day range for every bike and the battery your round trip needs. Hills: on steep routes we look for torque at or above the median of the 16 bikes that publish it (60 Nm), or a mid-drive; a bike below that is ranked lower, never hidden.

Where a maker’s load limit includes the bike itself, we subtract the bike’s weight before comparing it with yours.

How we make money

Ebike Legal is free to use because some providers pay us a commission when you click through to them and sign up or buy. It costs you nothing extra. Commission never changes which providers we include, the order we list them in, or what we say about them.

Today no seller has approved us, so nothing on the site earns money yet. Sellers that run a referral programme we could join: Ampd Bros (up to 10% on electric bikes for first-time buyers, on the order value excluding gst and shipping); Lekker Bikes (5% default commission on e-bike sales, 30-day cookie); Ride Electric (4% commission on the sale value, 30-day cookie); Leon Cycle (5% per e-bike sale, 30-day cookie); BikesOnline (rate not published ("above industry average"), 30-day cookie). Sellers we link to that have no programme open to us: VelectriX, Giant Australia, Specialized Australia, Trek Australia, Avanti Bikes, Reid Cycles, 99 Bikes, Pushys, Treadly Bike Shop. Once a programme approves us, a short note appears beside every link to that seller.

Links to sellers go through an address on this site starting with /go/, which lets us switch a link to a tracked referral in one place and keeps search engines from treating it as an endorsement.

How we rank, and what commission can’t change

Ebike Legal ranks providers by legality where you ride first, then fit for your trip, load and height, then price. Commission is never an input: a provider that pays us is ranked exactly where it would be if it paid nothing, and providers that pay nothing are still included when they fit.

Commission can’t change a verdict either. A bike from a seller that would pay us is “not legal” in Queensland if it’s over 250 W, and we say so on its page. We publish no star ratings, reviews or testimonials: we haven’t ridden these bikes, and a score would pretend we had.

Prices and corrections

Prices are what the seller’s page asked on the day we checked, in Australian dollars. Australian retail prices to consumers normally include GST; where a seller’s page or terms say so, we note it. We show one seller’s price per bike and never compare prices for the same bike across shops. If a rule or price here is out of date, email hello@ebikelegal.com.au and we’ll fix it and change the date.

General information only

Ebike Legal provides general information only. It does not take your circumstances into account. Check prices, terms and suitability with the provider before you buy or sign up.